The School for Housewives – Let your child work on his gag reflex!

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I have known many babies over the course of my life. I have only ever thought, once, that one was in danger of actual choking: My friend had given her 14-month-old an orange section, and the long membrane got stuck in her throat. She really could not breath or swallow. I applied the Heimlich by sort of throwing her, belly down, over my clenched fist, and it flew out.All the rest of the time, babies and toddlers of my acquaintance have been sticking sand, rocks, leaves, sticks, little Legos, and all into their mouths, and I and other adults have been trying to stay one step ahead of them, saying, “Yucky, spit it out, don’t eat that, that’s not food, tsk tsk tsk!” etc. etc., and it really has been okay.


Originally published in The School for Housewives. Read original article